I
recently received a few interesting pieces that
motivated me to return once more to that product of Kelly Johnson and
his whiz kids. This is aimed more at Kelly, than the airplane,
but the two are fairly inseparable. People sometimes question
whether airplanes are
not more the
product of teams and not of a single person. While that may be
perfectly correct in most of today's situations, and technically
correct in the
case of the Skunk Works, any study of Kelly's life and
personality clearly
indicate his fingerprints were all over every product that rolled off
his drafting table -- and on into the sky. Kelly was a man with a
strong
presence and persona, from his earliest years, -- and his
designs all
blazed new paths into the unknown, plowed new fields, solved new
problems - usually in a stunning and mind-boggling way that surprised
even aviation professionals.

U-2 Dragon Lady

More than that, most of his products exhibited extraordinary good looks that
demonstrated his unique "engineer as an artist" talents, and many, many
went on to have big production runs and long service lives. Many
of
his airplanes were designed and developed during the same time periods,
demonstrating his ability to multi-task on a BIG scale, and he
was
certainly born as a man who thought "outside the box"with
so many
unique solutions to problems presented. (When oil from the U-2
engine sprayed into the cockpit air outlets - the solution was to stuff
Kotex into the air conditioning ducts. "And, by God, it worked!" said Ben Rich.)

All of his accomplishments
were topped by unique skills in personnel management - where his teams
were minuscule (and very team driven); attention to finances - a Depression-era man who knew
the value of a dollar; and scheduling
- delighting in incredibly short
flow times (many airplanes designed, built and flown in less than
a year - some in less than six months.) His organization was also
unique in the ability to keep a secret - "be quiet" was Kelly's phrase
and mantra - and many of his airplanes were in service for long periods of time
before the industry, the public, or even the trade press found out
about them.

F-104

The F-104 that I have written about elsewhere on this website, was the 'Missile with a Man in
It' interceptor, a Mach 2 airplane that had no wing and could go
supersonic straight up. The CIA craved intelligence info about the
Soviets and Eastern Bloc, so their agent - USAF - in July 1953 sent an RFP for a
high altitude reconnaissance airplane to three manufacturers -
Fairchild, Bell, and Martin. Fairchild was ultimately
eliminated, Bell won the contract, while Martin received a contract for
an interim airplane - a re-winged / re-engined British Canberra bomber,
that became the RB-57. Kelly mulled this state of affairs - supremely
confident in his ability to do better than those other guys - no matter
what they came up with. He decided to turn the F-104 into a high
altitude long range airplane by bolting on a new long wing, which is
what he did. Altho the U-2 later morphed quite a bit, it's F-104 roots
can still be seen in it's fuselage, cockpit, and engine air intakes.
The fuselage was initially built on the same tooling. (The F-104 was still in the
XF-104 stage at this time, it might be added.)
Kelly was a man who saw absolutely no value in reinventing the
wheel, and frequently borrowed parts and features from his other
products, -- even from other manufacturers.

Like the F-104, he submitted his proposal unsolicited to
the Air Force, which doubtless
didn't like yet more nasty lumps in their punchbowl after their carefully
orchestrated and lengthy program efforts. Their evaluations had
been
going on for nearly a year, but they gave Kelly's submittal a
reportedly "thorough" evaluation - one that resulted in it being
returned 20 days later as "Rejected." It has to be pointed
out at this time that Kelly had never had a great relationship with the
Air Force, and it deteriorated further during the hatching of the F-104.
He called them "Blue Suiters", rather derisively (actually
blue-suiters, always lower case.) He didn't like their rigid
mindsets,
NIH (Not Invented Here) attitudes, management style and especially,
their bloated and lethargic bureaucracy. He hated their requirements,
refused to let their pilots fly his airplanes until he felt they were
"ready", and didn't figure he needed any help - especially from USAF -
in designing and building airplanes. Since he was a man who suffered
fools poorly ( 7 seconds - according to his long-time lieutenant and eventual successor - Ben Rich),
his attitude showed through, and was reciprocated. (Ben's description:
"It was an open secret in the industry that Kelly had often been his
own worst enemy in his unbending and stubborn dealings with the
blue-suiters. Several USAF Chief of Staffs had to intercede with their
three star generals who weren't used to being told they didn't know
shit from Shinola - especially right to their face!") Eventually,
Lockheed had to hire a VP to act as a middleman between Kelly and
USAF. The Air Force was stuck, they had to work with him - they were
dealing with a genius who happened to be the greatest aircraft designer
of all time. He knew it, and they knew it.
Having his U-2 proposal quickly and unceremoniously stamped "Return to
Sender," Kelly was about to cement his estrangement from his main
customer. He did an End Run
around the Air Force, and submitted his
proposal directly to the CIA. They looked it over, and
coincidentally,
also taking just 20 days, bought 20 airplanes. Clearly, the CIA
was a
customer that thought like Kelly, and moved out expeditiously. They
wanted an airplane to fly within a year of signing the contract
-
hardly a problem for a man who prided himself on quick flow
projects. Kelly's proposal was actually for a first flight within 8
months - and, in fact, the first airplane was completed in seven
months, flew in 8 months, and
met its design requirements, including cruise at 73,000 ft, at the 9
month point. At the one year milestone, four aircraft had been
delivered and 5 more were in final assembly. Kelly also had to
develop
the world's most advanced recon camera and film system, which he did
with Edwin Land, of Polaroid fame. Kodak developed brand new
films.
Like everything Kelly laid his hands on - it was all New! New! New!

The program Kelly had proposed to the CIA, was essentially a Turnkey
operation. Kelly would design and build the airplanes, provide the
pilots and ground crews, fly the missions - turning the film over to
the CIA after landing. Kelly was about to go into the "spy business" -
BIG TIME! (Eventually, Curtis LeMay - whose relationship with Kelly
was often a little on the 'sand-papery' side, interceded to provide pilots and ops
support from SAC and the rest of USAF - but the pilots all became born-again as Lockheed
employees. And Lockheed did the maintenance.)

Assembling a U-2 at Groom Lake

Now, having proposed all this to the government, he had to go and get
approval from his bosses! (This was an exact repeat of his modus
operandi in 1943-44 when the XP-80 jet fighter was proposed, designed
and built - and flown - in 143 days!)
In particular, this time, he had to convince them to let him build all the
airplanes. Up to this point, he and the Skunk Works had built a
few
test articles, turning over full production to Lockheed's main
plant.
They said OK (better to ask forgiveness, after -- rather than
permission,
before), and he began the job with 25 engineers (including himself) and
81 shop people.
(He claimed in his bio that he told his bosses he was "drafted" for the job - always a
good strategy - and one unlikely to be verified.) Altho this
headcount grew over time, it was not by much, with never over 80
engineers and a total staff of less than 300. In typical fashion,
supposedly for security reasons, Kelly ran the project finances for a while out of
his personal checking account. (I'd love to see his checkbook
register
- Safeway - $30; Burbank Dry-Cleaners - $6; Joe's Garage - $45;
Pratt&Whitney - $3,000,000.) At the end of the program, Kelly
wrote the government a check for $8 Million - he had under-run the
program, and was returning the extra money.

Pleased with the progress of the program, at the one year point, the
CIA bought 30 more airplanes. USAF, watching from the sidelines,
canceled the "winning" Bell X-16 project, all too aware of Kelly having
gone first CHECK, and then MATE. (This was the nail in Larry Bell's
fixed wing airplane coffin - they never recovered as a viable airplane
manufacturer.) After delivering this second batch of 30 airplanes,
Kelly found he had a lot of extra parts lying around, so he completed
and delivered 6 extra airplanes at no charge - actually he again wrote
the CIA a check - this time for $2 Million - for again under-running
the contract. Six extra airplanes, and a refund. Such a deal!

*********************************

I hate to rub salt in open wounds- but contemplate the current state of
aircraft program schedules and finances.....

**************************

The U-2 wasn't long in service when Kelly began designing its
replacement - the stunning Blackbird. This he also sold directly to
the CIA. (The Blackbird was designed and built with exactly ONE
government employee on-site - an engineer named Norman Nelson who
worked for the CIA.) Kelly would have none of those huge AFPRO offices
with their inspectors, auditors, and all the rest. He always said he
didn't have the time or resources to attend a bunch of worthless
meetings or write a bunch of worthless reports. (He left out the part
about "for a bunch of worthless blue-suiters.") If he was going to
operate "Lean", then so was the government. It's no overstatement to
say that no one but Kelly could get away with all this. After a few
years, the CIA decided they wanted out of the operating business, and
the airplanes migrated over to USAF.

SR-71 Blackbird

USAF, of course, was not only
peeved at Kelly, but mad at the CIA, who were buying and flying jet
reconnaissance airplanes over hostile countries - a job the Air Force
figured was smack dab in the middle of their main job description. President Eisenhower had personally approved the scheme, so they were stuck. ( Curtis LeMay's evaluation of the U-2: "This is a bunch of shit! I can do all of that stuff with my B-36!" )
The U-2 was - and is - an amazing airplane. (Why do I find myself
saying that over and over and over about Kelly's creations?) It
was built in 16
different basic versions, with three different engines and two wings -
a long-wing version (later called the short wing), and a much
longer-wing version. It was built in three different batches in
three different
locations having been put back in production twice after long lapses -
itself unique in USAF history. And, of course, it is still
in-service, more than a two decades after its Kelly replacement - the
SR-71
Blackbird - was retired. (As of January 2010 - 32 are still on the active roster.)

Tony LeVier made the first (inadvertent) flight on 29 July 1955, when
he found the big wings generated more lift than anticipated, even while
taxiing at fairly low speed. "Ooops, we're at 35 feet!" The
airplane could fly at Idle Thrust (actually it could CLIMB at Idle thrust) - and didn't want to land - each extra
foot of altitude over the numbers added 1000 ft to the touchdown point.
(Well, in many ways, it was just a jet-powered sailplane.)
The first official flight took place
a few days later.

Kelly insisted
Tony land on the big main wheel first - Tony wanted to land three-point
in a stall like a J-3 with the aft small tail wheel touching first (which had,
BTW,
solid rubber tires, like a Railway Express wagon at a train
station.)
Landing on the front wheel caused a porpoise. After about 5
aborted
attempts to land, with Kelly yelling at Tony on the radio while
screaming down the runway alongside in a car (or was it a C-47, or a
T-33? There are various versions out there), Tony did it his way
and
the First Flight was over. (Kelly Version: "He made six
attempts before I could talk him down." Tony Version:
"Kelly: Remember, I want you to land on the nose
wheel"..... but finally, "I held her nose high, just like I
wanted to, and put her down in a perfect two-pointer, slick as a cat's
ass."

Jim Goodall

Touching down at Beale AFB - Apr 2006 - Tail wheel first......

Kelly was a stubborn guy and found it hard
to admit he was wrong, even if only on occasion. (He had a standing
bet with anybody and everybody - he'd pay a quarter to anyone who could
prove him wrong. He had a big jar of quarters on his desk - proceeds
from his various bets - but he did admit - grudgingly - that he had paid
out a few also.) He had a hard time acknowledging the tail wheel first
landing - but, in his bio, makes it sound like this was the idea all
along -- check out the landing on the video at the end of this tale.
See how they do it today.....

Kelly also swore a lot, could out-drink most, if not all, of his crew -
with everyone chugging down the suds after an important flight. It was
one big family, and Kelly ran the outfit like it was his own company.
And, having worked his way through his youth as a lather, ($10/day for
2000 laths - "That took a lot of nail pounding.") had arms
like
steel traps - and would take on any and all comers in arm-wrestling
contests (usually after some lubricating brewski's). One time he
almost broke his test pilot's arm on the evening before a major flight!

After the U-2's First Flight:

"all of us celebrated with the usual beer and arm-wrestling contests.
Thanks to my early lathing work, I was pretty good at both."

"It has been our policy at the Skunk Works that everyone, - workers, engineers, executives - sees the first flight and is included in the traditional party afterward."

Altho the U-2 was more than a little tricky to land on a big strip,
some
U-2s actually operated from aircraft carriers. There was a
standard
carrier
kit including cable guards and a tail hook that could be
installed for
a carrier operation. Some even had folding wings. Spoilers had
to be added to enable lift dumping and the required spot landings. The U-2
flew
on and off a number of carriers,
including the Kitty Hawk, Ranger, and America, and flew operational
sorties at least once, monitoring French nuclear tests in the South
Pacific.

Aboard the USS America

The U-2 flew a lot virtually in the "coffin corner" and had a
lot stability
problems in both pitch and
yaw. Early tests showed a pitch upset could lead to an in-flight
break-up in just seconds. (This is what likely knocked down
Francis Gary
Powers - a SAM missile (several analyses out there) knocked off
half of one of the horizontal
stabilizers, and the airplane immediately flipped inverted,
tearing off the wings.) Maneuver loads were as low as +1.8
/ -0.8 G
under some flight conditions. Kelly had been ruthless about
weight from Day One, noting every extra pound cost dearly in cruise
altitude. The airplane can best be described as fragile, and has a Kelly patented load alleviation system to keep the wings from failing in turbulent air at lower altitudes.

The spread between Mach buffet and
Stall
buffet could be as low as 10 kts, and, under the very worst conditions,
as little as 3-4 kts. It was said you could stall the inside wing
in
a
turn, (causing a loss of control), while inducing over-speed Mach
buffet on the outer one! (causing structural failure.) The
airplane needed an autopilot to fly in these delicate conditions,
but pilots were afraid to fall asleep even on the longest of
missions -- if the Russians didn't get you, an upset would.

U-2 at Groom Lake

The U-2 was tested out in the Top Secret Area 51 in the Nevada desert,
actually a cluster of several bases with names like Groom Lake or Watertown -
Kelly called the
airplane Angel and the place Paradise Ranch - or just "The Ranch." Kelly likewise located and built this
facility
under the guise of CLJ Engineering (Clarence L. Johnson - he always
found a way to use his initials) - all for $800,000. He sent
Tony out in the company Bonanza to scout locations, and two days later,
they
landed on the dry lake bed that was to assume such
notoriety. (Tony
tossed out a few 16 lb lead shot weights to see if the surface was hard
enough for landing.) The below PPS presentation shows the early
days at
this Top Secret facility, with everyone living in the heat and dust in
a bunch of travel trailers. The pictures are quite unique, seem
to be
genuine home movie type photos, taken by someone that was there and
were recently uncovered. (I've always found it amazing how many
home
movies were taken in an assortment of supposedly highly classified
operations - from the Doolittle Raid to the U-2, etc.)

Ray Goudey was a Lockheed test pilot. He was Project Pilot on the
JetStar - making the first and last flights of the Prototype 25 years apart. That
airplane is in the Museum's collection, and I got to meet him when he
came to visit his old bird. Since then, we have become good friends.
Ray also flew the U-2 - in the Linked PPS presentation, you can see
him in several photos. Ray hadn't seen this collection, and was glad
to re-live the 'good old days' after I sent them to him.

Ray Goudey c. 1956

Postscript:
In Ben Rich's book on Lockheed's Skunk Works, CIA Director Richard Helms states "
Building the U-2 was absolutely the smartest decision ever made by the
CIA. It was the greatest bargain and the greatest triumph
of the cold war." His aide Richard Bissell expanded on this theme: "I
have no doubt that the U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union made up the
most important intelligence-gathering operation ever launched by
the West." Knowing
essentially nothing about Soviet bomber, missile, or nuclear weapons
activity, President Eisenhower declared this intelligence was the
most urgent priority for the intelligence community. "He
told me the minute I flashed the signal to him that Kelly Johnson was
ready to deliver that airplane, he was ready to give me permission to
start those flights." This intelligence changed the entire course of the cold war and U.S. programs and strategies. "After
only four or five flights,....the evidence caused the president of the
United States to draw in a deep breath, smile, and relax a bit."

The
U-2, in 1962, also discovered Russian missiles in Cuba that
precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Kennedy-Khruschev
face-down that almost resulted in nuclear war.That's Heavy stuff, and it came from Kelly Johnson - a guy who wouldn't take "No" for an answer.Bob Bogash

The Master with his creation

LINKS

Wanna fly in a U-2? The attached Link will take you to an interesting video of a
British journalist taking a ride in the U-2 (wonder how you get to do
this???) It's quite impressive, including his repeatedly declaring he
was "speechless." I think the word he was looking for was
"loquacious." (BTW, the SR-71 flew a lot higher.)